Sussex’s shooters are sharp for second
Shooting is suffering from a lack of activity, like all amateur sports, but the Sussex County Smallbore Rifle Association can report a second-place finish in the Queen Alexandra Cup.
The inter-county competition was completed last autumn. It is usually shot in four stages with the final stage being shot between the leading six counties at the National Championships at Bisley. The second stage was held in early 2020 allowing up to twenty individual competitors in each county to attempt to qualify to shoot for their respective counties, with the top six competitors in each county forming the team.
The Queen Alexandra Cup competition is different to many prone competitions as two ten-shot cards are shot deliberately with competitors being allowed 10 minutes to complete each one plus sighting shots. The other two tenshot cards are completed with a time limit of just 90 seconds per card.
This adds an interesting twist by setting individuals the task of having to qualify to shoot in the team – and that is the challenge of round two.
Round three normally provides each county the challenge of qualifying for the Bisley final in which the top six counties compete together at the national meeting, but with that cancelled in 2020, the national association decided to allow all counties that had entered to compete for the trophy in round three and all team members could shoot their cards on their own club ranges.
The results have just been posted. Kent won the cup with a score of 2335 out 2400, Sussex were second with 2325 and Essex third with 2313.
The Sussex team of captain Linda Smallbone (Eastbourne), Sara Carr (Chichester), Rob Dowling, Pete Terry (both Fittleworth) Sara Marshall (Hastings) and David White (East Grinstead) all receive gold medals, with Kent members receiving the Queen Alexandra Cup and cloth badges.
Top score for Sussex was by Dowling with 394 – also the second highest individual score in the final which earns him the NSRA gold championship medal. Winner D Cowen of Hampshire, won the London Transport Sharpshooter Cup.
Sussex fielded three men and three women, ages ranging from mid 20s to early 70s. The national association did well to enable numerous competitions be safely completed.